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The More You Know 🙂

When I need to import .gpx (rarely), I use on online converter for .gpx to .dxf. I'm usually doing this for trail design, site observation, or maps... so the accuracy is not critical. Surprisingly, my Garmin cycling computer does a very good job capturing existing trails. When the tracks are overlaid onto a satellite image they are typically right on the money.

You can use 2D illustration tools like polygons in plan and elevation views. They will show in 3D views too like billboards seen in other software like Revit. But that's not an image prop, it's a vector representation.

....and now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Well, it's actually more like 99% of the battle, but who am I to argue with 1980's cartoon wisdom?

Did you solve this during my banishment? If not... You could use "extract 3D Loci" from the point cloud and then export that to .dwg. Reimporting back to VWX shows the loci stay intact round trip.

It's sad this feature hasn't been added. There are lots of reasons for having a visible, but non-plotting graphics. Feature affecting a design you want to see while placing things. Instructions to staff members you want them to read. etc... Having a visible but non-plotting control alleviates the need for turning things off or setting up viewport styles. This user error prone control of visibility is probably the leading cause of print errors and omissions and has been with many CAD packages for a long time.

Wow, nobody helped you out in over a month on this? You need to change your Vectorworks Preferences for your Default Render Mode to something other than wireframe. I like Shaded personally.

post the model exhibiting the problem and you might get a better response.

Just tested in 2024 Same problem, different day/year 😞 Manual labeling is the only reliable method in Vectorworks. viva la BIM?

That's not true. It is best to model in the software that is able to create the desired form in the most efficient and stable way possible. Sometimes that is Vectorworks, sometimes it's something else. I can't say what software is better at certain things, they like to ban me for that around here.

Have we become so lazy that we have outsourced our regurgitation of others designs to AI too? I spent some time this past semester as a guest juror for a senior landscape studio. It's sad how much time these student spend learning how to prompt AI instead of being able to solve basic design problems. I think we are doomed.

Overlapping data is more likely the culprit. See video. I wonder how long it will take the moderators to approve my message this time... fixed model.mov

It's a data set from a variety of sources and is claimed to be following the USDA. The plant database field is "VW Hardy Zone" and Vectorworks says this about it "1–11 (from USDA zone mapping)" I wouldn't trust any data for hardiness found within Vectorworks as it is common to see values outside this stated range. Most nurseries seem to have fed most data to Vectorworks using the Sunset system, presumably. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zones currently range from 1 to 13, but split the zones in half and use A or B to further describe them making 26 zones effectively. The USDA zones are based on minimum temperatures, hence the mention of "currently" earlier. Sunset actually defines at least 45 different climate zones currently, but you don't usually see anything that high. It is a catalogue system where the number doesn't tie directly to something like minimum temperature like the USDA. As a catalogue, it too could expand past the current numbering system. The American Horticulture Society actually has a heat based system, but it's not typically referenced in gardening or landscape architecture. It ranges from 1 to 12 currently. See the problem here. The best practice is for your office to decide how it wants to curate and maintain hardiness data and stick with a system that makes sense for your area. With the pending abandonment of the Plant Database in favor of Plant Styles, I would maintain this data outside of Vectorworks in an database that can be used in any software rather than having all that data locked up inside a proprietary system like Plant Styles. A database can power publishing software for making cut sheets on plants, spec writing, or custom plant books. Vectorworks can't do that automatically or quickly.

The parking lot tool creates 2D geometry. If you send it to the surface, it moves from the center handle to where it intersects a site model. So, on a site with some topography, some will be above the site model while some will be below. The way around this for 3D visualization is to create parking stripes with geometry projected onto the site model and then moved up a very small amount, say 20mm. If you don't need visualization in 3D, it's probably not worth the hassle.

post the file and someone will take a look at it.